Crypto News: The London Rush: Diageo lowballs

Hi, I'm Leo from Bloomberg UK's breaking news team, catching you up on this morning's business stories.

Diageo, the maker of Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff, has been hit by a slowdown in Latin America, the Caribbean and the US. That resulted in the British distiller posting its first annual sales decline since the pandemic.

Net sales dropped 1.4% to $20.3 billion in the year ending June, as consumers pivoted to cheaper options and continued to drink stocks of spirits built up in the Covid-era boom (guilty on both accounts). Diageo shares fell about 8% at the open.

Diageo's story doesn't seem too dissimilar from McDonald's, which yesterday reported its first sales drop in four years, as Sam Unsted points out below.

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The FCA said it is "more likely" to intervene over motor finance practices, an early indicator that firms including Lloyds, Close Brothers and Barclays may have to compensate customers over the sale of car loans.

BP maintained the pace of its share buybacks and increased its dividend as strong earnings from pumping crude offset weakness in other parts of the business. The stock rose at the open.

St. James's Place shares surged 24% after Britain's biggest wealth manager — which has been battling customer complaints over its fees — said it aims save £80 million in 2025 and 2026 with a plan to reinvest part of that money into growth.

Standard Chartered expanded its multi-billion dollar share buyback program and reported a rise in profit driven by its wealth business.

And WPP said former BT CEO Philip Jansen will become its chairman in January.

Facing ruin, Japanese companies relearn how to raise prices.
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Rich Hong Kong families sell mansions at discounts to repay debt.

Here's your daily snap analysis from Bloomberg UK's Markets Today blog:

Two companies in quite different price brackets have reported in the past couple of days, indicating consumer weakness is showing up in various places.

Yesterday, McDonald's reported its first decline in quarterly sales since the pandemic, when its restaurants were shut down. And there was weakness across all geographies, not just in the US where the number of visitors to its fast-food joints slipped. So Big Macs, having gone up in price in recent years, are now feeling the consumer squeeze.

And it's a similar story for more expensive products at Diageo, where the pandemic boom in spirits for making cocktails at home has dissipated. Again, price hikes while inflation was spiking are now being shunned by consumers, who have reached a limit on what they'll spend on a discretionary purchase.

There are other pockets of squeezed wallets showing through too — like the discounting that airlines are starting to do on ticket prices — but this pair certainly indicates that consumer appetite for a Quarter Pounder or tequila is suffering.

— Sam Unsted

Check Bloomberg UK's Markets Today blog for updates all day.

GSK, HSBC, Taylor Wimpey and West End landlord Shaftesbury will update the market tomorrow morning.

Which movie took in $205 million in US and Canadian ticket sales over the weekend, making it the biggest domestic debut of the year?

[Yesterday's answer: The European city looking to ban digital billboards is Zurich.]

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